Sunday, December 6, 2015

The
18th annual Promising Practices Multicultural Conference took place at the
Donovan Dining Center at Rhode Island College on Saturday, November 7, 2015.
When I woke up that day I was exhausted, especially when I had to wake up very
early on Saturday, I was nervous about what to expect on that day. I got ready
early so that I could look presentable for the day's activities. I have never
been to something like this before and I wondered if it would be boring or not.

First,
when I arrived I checked in, and I found my name tag on the table, which had
the name of the workshops that I will attend, the process was quick and easy.
After that I found some of my classmates, were we sat together on the same
table and have some breakfast.

The
Conference officially started at 8:30 a.m. when Dr. Nancy Carriuolo the
president of Rhode Island College address her Welcome Remarks. Then it was the
Keynote Address by Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, the Director of Rhode Island
Department of Health. The Keynote was about the purpose and importance ofintegrating public health and social work. Dr. Scott discussed that how the
public health can be different from district to another, which explains why the
districts with the low income families has more issues like abortion, drugs, and diseases because
they are not aware of the importance of public health.

While
Dr. Scott was discussing the importance of the public health, especially in the
districts with the low income families, I got a Kozol moment, which reminds me
of the people of Mott Haven, and how they suffered from many issues like drugs
and diseases, because they live in one of the district which has a low income
families.

My
first workshop was called "Hearing Empathy", I was there with Taylor,
Sydney, and many more from the FNED class. We kept looking at each other
because the presenter was very confusing and he was so fast. I think the reason
is he had a lot information that he wanted us to know in a short period of
time. When I first walked in to the room, I got a Delpit moment, when I see that he had
all the points that he wanted to discuss with us, and how he has the rules and
codes of power written on the board.

My
second workshop was really interesting, It called "Worldviews EducationLecture Series". The presenters described how the Rhode Island College's
Feinstein School of Education and Human Development's Diversity Committee
Launched a project to enhance teacher candidates' and helping professionals' interactive
learning with culturally and linguistically diverse professionals around the
world and nation. what was very interesting, when we saw a live lecture on Skype
with a student from Japan. I got an August moment, because this project is
creating a safe spaces for many students all over the world to by encouraging
them to learn.

At the end, I was happy I went to the conference . It was a great experience. I
can't wait to go again next year. Hopefully It's not going to be as early as
this year!!!